Glass bedding a 03A3 Springfield.

[Max Shaffer]

I am in the process of rebedding a 03A3 Springfield. The front of the trigger guard has a piller which contacts the bottom of the recoil lug. Sort of a 1903 version of a 2 piece bedding pillar. But on the bottom of the recoil lug. So do I maintin contact with the pillars, and also bed the bottom of the recoil lug along with the receiver flat behind the recoil lug. I also plan on bedding the first 2" or so of the barrel. Or pillar cantact and no contact on the bottom of the recoil lug. Or no contact on either pillar and bottom of recoil lug. If I bed the whole thing, just lightly tighten the guard screws? Max Shaffer

 

[blagg]

If it were me I would utilize the pillars built into the action/bottom metal. For one reason is to keep the magazine to reciever fit as intended. Then bed around the rec. bottom and lug and a portion of the tang. I usually only bed about 3/4 of an inch of the barrel. It squishes out to more but I trim it to the 3/4 inch length and square it up for cosmetic reasons. But thats just me.

 

[Stryker60]

The 03A3 tang is normally inletted into the stock, rather than resting on top, ala Remington 700. You should leave at least a sixteenth inch clearance between the stock and the rear surface of the tang. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in a cracked stock.

James

 

[Boyd Allen]

To arrive at some clamping force on the stock, I think that I would bed with a thin spacer between bottom metal and recoil lug bottom, and possibly the same on the rest of the bottom of the lug. I would also do a very good job of bedding the bottom metal. There is only a narrow ledge near the bottom of the front"pillar" that catches on the bedding. After the bedding set up, I would pull the thin shims and have a little clamping without too much distortion. What you can have, if the metal parts touch, is a tight screw and no clamping force on the stock, if the wood shrinks only slightly, it will be loose...even though the screw is very tight. A pillar is glued in the stock; the bottom metal is not. The same thing can happen with a steel bushing around the rear action screw, if it is a slide in fit.

 

[Max Shaffer]

Thanks for the tips!

I didn't have to use a shim on the metal to leave a gap. But as a hobbiest I have bedded several rifles, (Remingtons) and I am happy with the way this one turned out. I did have to free up the back of the tang. Now when the weather clears up and warms up a little I am ready to see how it shoots. This was a redo of a 1963 bed which really was pretty amateurish. In a Bishop stock which split. That was the reason for the glass bed then. It got the cross bolts out of the original Springfield stock then also. It has been about a 1 3/4" grouper since new.
Max